Boopalina - You mean out to run around in the house? Yep! Nestle is out always. We have baby gates to block the stairs to the loft and the bedrooms, but the rest of the space is his. He has found a few projects that we disapproved of, but he is 98% very good. As long as you have bunny-proofed (no electrical cords that could be chewed, no houseplants that are reachable for nibbles, etc) and she has good litter habits, you can do it. My bunny friends and I all have true house rabbits :) Out all day in the house.

If you mean outside though, that I don't do.

I also would feed today's little bun!!!! That face is toooooo cute :) -Amy

wow thank you so much all, sorry to bring attention away from cute little "lil bun", boop is a super lazy bun sleeps all day long then awakes at 945pm to run around, we go out on the weekends and leave her out and about (she is only an indoor bun)she isnt into chewing wires or anything like that, just wasnt sure if i should let her free roam while i'm at work and noone is home. I'd still put her in her cage at night, if only for god for bid reaosns i need to find her quickly, so you all leave your buns out while at work?

My Brammetje and Leentje are out and about appr. 4 hours out of 24. I am a worried mum by nature... The garden is enclosed and they love to explore 'their' territory.. Rainy days: kitchen-duty-in-carton-box!No cords! No electricity! (unless they use a ladder...)

Any human's will power wouldn't stand a chance against that barrage of cuteness.

(Off-topic: Would it be possible to restrict the bun's freedom to a small area, say one room at a time, using barriers or baby gates? Then expanding to a larger area and eventually the whole house. I found it helps to start small and work your way up.)

Thank you for all your helpfulness everyone, i think boopalina will get some more freedom during the day while i'm at work. I'm sure she will thank you all with some binky's! thanks again!!! what a great little DR family.

Cutest bunny picture EVER! We use kiddie gates to keep our bun in the kitchen/family room 24/7. Sometimes at night we let him also roam up the stairs, and in our bedroom (bunny-proofed, of course). All this freedom has not made him less huggable - every night he sits by my husband's end of the couch for hours and hours of pets. Look at the clock . . . 8 pm? Look down - there's Benjamin! [Earthquake last night REALLY scared him . . .]

To the people who let their buns out all the time, what on earth do you do with all your cords? I have cords from stereos, computers, television, all the various connections to services for all of the above, air conditioning window units, and even wall lamps that hang behind the couch - all of which the bun can get to and thus has to be watched at all times when he's out. We had one rabbit in our lives that had no interest in cords, but there's literally no way to make our house cord-safe; not the way it's wired. So...jeez, I wish I could have a free-range bun. It's sad.

Anniemcphee, there are several companies that make a protective, clear cover for any cord. In addition you can go to Lowes or Home Depot and get nylon "wire ties" and self adhesive mounts to get cords out of any bunnies reach. You may also find interesting things in the child proofing sections. Our Kalhua-Loki roams the house with extreme prejudice and can't get to a single cord. You might also consider "wire-mold" a self adhesive raceway for your cords and cables. It's easy to install and can be painted to match your décor.

thank you everyone for your sweet comments on lil bun's cuteness! i can attest that she is WELL fed and a highly disapproving rabbit. right now she is staring at me with disapproval, as i type and don't pet her. although if i pet her she will disapprove of my weak display of affection, as she is a "tough bunny" (previously abused - rescue). and grunt if i stop. and attack if i start. oh, the complications!

i can also attest to the fact that it is possible to allow SOME bunnies free reign of the house. unfortunately, my cole will eat the couch and the bed and our current house is too small (500 sq ft for two people - one work-at-home - two bunnies, and a cat) for alternate placement of their huge puppy crate. so free reign is only allowed while we're home. at our last place, they had a fully bunny-proof office (covered cords and no soft furniture) where they hopped about 24/7! luckily, with one of us as a work-at-home, they don't have much confined time!

to "Rabbits'Guy": your observations are right; if you deprive a rabbit of everything normal and natural to it by confining it to a small space,it may be desperate enough to do what is not natural to it and allow you to pick it up,that being the only way to get 'out of jail'. You sound like you really love your buns; surely that isn't what you want?

subliminalrabbit: you're right, bunny safety must always come first. If Cole was allowed to eat the couch, the fibres could form a life threatening intestinal blockage. Sounds like your buns have a happy home! Lil Bun is SWEET!

I can't say I agree about depriving the bunny of everything that is normal and natural to it - it isn't like they live in the wild in carpeting, central air, no predators, etc. They also don't live long in the wild. I'm just saying I don't think it's a fair comparison.

Our cage is very large, we let the bunny out all we can, and on nice days we always put him outside to enjoy the weather and grass in an enclosure. I will also take the advice on looking for more cord protection - I mean we SERIOUSLY have a lot of cords and they are everywhere; I always wonder how in other people's homes they seem to not be tripping all over cords. So then where do they pee and poop though? Especially pee? We had a bun that would pee every time he was out and ruined the entire living room floor tiles (we cleaned it up right away, but bunny pee is pretty powerful stuff.)

@AnnieMcPhee: Pee and poop is alot less of a problem if the bun is spayed/neutered. My buns are out all day in the dining room and kitchen and always use their litter pans for pee and almost always for poop. Like you, we have a lot of cords, but not in their areas.

If I'm not mistaken, I thought I saw some helpful thoughts about these topics on bunspace. There are a lot of things to consider regarding our disapproving and cuddly friends. I suppose the wiring is easier for me being an electrician, but that's only a part of it, my wife is the expert...I'm just the skilled labor.

Harley taught us how to keep our cords safe. The most important thing we learned was that access behind entertainment centers and computer desks must be thoroughly blocked. I cut blocks of wood to completely fill the gaps that he finds irresistable.

And your mileage may vary, but Harley give us permission to run wires anywhere we like if they're kept 14-16 inches above the ground at all times (AC outlet height). As long as cables don't dangle below that level, he's not interested. Basically any cable that might impede his progress while running around full speed is a no-no.

Harley is neutered and uses a litterbox. That was also a learning process. He didn't recognize the box we used at first and chose his own corner. So we moved the box to that corner and after a month or two we were able to move it anywhere in the house without any incidents.